I’ve been juicing kale, hemp seed, hemp oil etc. for about a year now . . . using my Vita-mix blender. For someone that doesn’t do much cooking it has been great. So a few weeks back I added a gram of raw Cannabis to my daily smoothies and found that I felt very energized though their were no psychotropic effects. I did this little experiment because I have been reading that the raw form of THC, THCA, may have all sorts of wonderful effects on our health. So while I would like to continue this I can’t. Why? Because a gram of Cannabis costs about 7 to 10 dollars per gram and I just don’t have $3,650 extra dollars a year to make this part of my daily diet. Before I go to far let me make clear that that my decades of activism, for the right of adults to use Cannabis (e.g., Marijuana), has NEVER been predicated on it’s Medical use. And before 1900 most American would have agreed with that statement. It was not until the Harrison Narcotics Act (1914, I believe) that their was any prohibition of opioid use. It was not until 1918 that we prohibited alcohol and that was rescinded in 1932. It was not until the Marijuana Tax Act (1937) the Cannabis was prohibited at the Federal Level.

As far as I’m concerned we all have the inalienable right, as adults, to alter our state of consciousness: whether that be through alcohol, Cannabis, or entheogens such as LSD, Peyote, Psilocybin or even DMT. And even if you don’t agree with that statement, surely you will admit that a 100 years drug prohibition is a failed policy that has destroyed both entire communities and millions of individual lives.

Having said that I also agree with fellow activist Dennis Peron who said: “All Cannabis use is Medical use.” As far as I’m concerned getting “high” is, in fact, medical use.

So let me briefly summarize the history of the medical use of Cannabis.

A very short history of the Medical use of Cannabis

* The Medical use of Cannabis goes back many thousands of years and was used by numerous cultures during that period of time. And the conditions treated by Cannabis were recorded in the Medical Codices of these said cultures.

* As Cannabis (Marijuana) went mainstream, during the Hippie Era of the 1960’s, it was widely acknowledged as a safe way to relieve stress and other medical conditions.

* The growing understanding of how Cannabis ameliorated the symptoms of Glaucoma, Parkinsons, Multiple Sclerosis etc. led to the passage of the first Medical Marijuana Initiative (Prop215, CA) in November of 1996.

* In 2003 Rick Simpson successfully cured basal cell carcinoma skin cancer by applying THC oil directly on the lesions. Later it was found the RSO (Rick Simpson’s THC oil) could be taken orally and would have profound effects on various forms of cancer and other health conditions.

Is Juicing Raw Cannabis the Miracle Health Cure That Some of Its Proponents Believe It to Be?

This article also has information on dosing with raw Cannabis.

http://www.alternet.org/personal-health/juicing-raw-cannabis-miracle-health-cure-some-its-proponents-believe-it-be ===== Why Discovery of the Endocannabinoid System is so important The evolution of Medical Marijuana use has also been greatly affected by the discovery of the human Endocannabinoid System (ECS) in 1995. I would highly recommend reading the following article and I have included some links at the end for your further research. The discovery of the human ECS is probably one of the most important scientific discoveries in the last 10,000 years. Yet in the 12 years, since its discovery, most of our medical schools still don’t even teach about it. “Endocannabinoids” are Cannaboids — substances from the Cannabis plant (THC, THCA, CBD, CBG etc.). — that are produced within (e.g., endo = within) our own human bodies. And the only source of the THC exocannabinoids (e.g., exo = outside) – cannanaboids outside of the human body . . . come from the Marijuana plant: Cannabis. And what is even more amazing is that virtually all of the Animal Kingdom — from Fish to Humans — has an Endocannabinoid System! In the simplest of terms a happy ECS brings balance (e.g., homeostatis) to the human body. And with a happy ECS comes improved health. But to optimize our ECS we need to provide enough Cannabinoid Acids (such as THCA) and Non-Acid Cannabinoids (such as THC). The Cannaboid Acids — such as THCA — come from ingesting raw Cannabis (whether it be right off the plant or the dried form that is said to be “cured”). The Non-Acid Cannabinoids (such as THC) come from smoking a joint or eating edibles: where the THCA has been cooked to transform it into THC. Please note that this is a very simplistic explanation. There are many Cannabinoids, besides THC, and they all have various effects on our Endocannabinoid System. ===== In 1995, Mechoulam’s group discov-red a second major endocannabinoid — 2-arachidonoylglycerol, or “2-AG” — that “locks on” to both the CB1 and CB2 receptors. By tracing the metabolic pathways of THC, scientists stumbled upon a unique and hitherto unknown molecular signaling system that is involved in regulating a broad range of biological functions. Scientists call it “the endocannabinoid system,” after the plant that led to its detection. The name suggests that the plant came first, but in fact, as Dr. John McPartland has explained, this ancient, internal signal system started evolving over 600 million years ago (long before cannabis appeared) when the most complex life form was sponges.

Up until Dr. Courtney exposed the beneficial effects of THCA (e.g., Cannabis in its raw form) most medical use was centered on decarboylize Cannabis THC. Decarboxylation is a chemical reaction that removes a carboxyl group and releases carbon dioxide (CO2). Upon heating, Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinolic acid decarboxylates to give the psychoactive compound Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol.

When we smoke Cannabis it is the glowing ember that converts THCA to THC via decarboxylation. When we ingest Cannabis the brownies, RSO etc., it is the heating of the THCA the converts the THCA to THC via decarboxylation. If you inhale Cannabis it is THC-Delta9 that is responsible for the psychotropic high as it goes from the lungs, to the bloodstream and to the brain. If you ingest Cannabis your liver converts the THC-Delta9 to THC-Delta10. The “body buzz” you feel from ingesting Cannabis is due to THC-Delta10.

Only since 2010 has the case been made for ingesting raw Cannabis (THCA) which has no psychotropic effect. But there are many reasons why you might want to start doing this.

===== There is much research to be done on THCA. As things stand now, however, preclinical research has uncovered a wide variety of potential uses for THCA. THCA has demonstrated a wide variety of beneficial effects on the endocannabinoid system (ECS). The endocannabinoid system has been described as the largest neurotransmitter network in the body.

According to one source, THCA has a wider variety of effects on the ECS than both THC and CBD. Some of these roles include anti-spasmodic effects, anticonvulsant effects, anti-insomnia effects, and is reported to be immune supportive.

However, there is slightly more substantial evidence that THCA may hold potential in the following areas: Anti-Cancer, Insecticide, Anti-Inflammatory, Neuroprotective antioxidant, Anti-emetic, Analgesic etc.

How much Raw Cannabis (THCA) is required to positively effect you health?

When I first considered Dr. Courtneys work I found a plethora of articles saying it was sufficient to simply juice 5 to 15 leaves per day. Here is but one example of articles that suggest 10-15 leaves is sufficient, when you will read, it is not. I really have to wonder why this misinformation has not met with more scrutiny: “In their inspiring short film “Leaf, ” Dr. Courtney and his wife suggest juicing 10 to 20 fresh leaves daily. Proposing a mix of one part cannabis juice with 10 parts carrot juice to counteract the bitterness, he suggests selecting leaves around 70-90 days after sowing, Educated Cannabinoid Crusaders: Could cannabis be an essential nutrient?”

* Courtney recommends “expanding our use of cannabis from the 10-milligram psychoactive THC dose to the 600-to-1000 milligram dietary dose.”

Suddenly it all made perfect sense. A gram of raw Cannabis is about 20% Cannabinoids and in most varieties most of those Cannabinoids are in the form of THCA. So in order to get 600 milligrams of THCA you would have to ingest about 3 grams of raw/dried Cannabis bud each day.

1 gram Cannabis is 20% THC so would contain about 200 milligrams of THCA. This would mean that you would have to throw about 3 grams of raw cannabis into you smoothie to get a 600 milligram does of THCA. And while Courtney insists on raw, uncured Cannabis, I believe that cured Cannabis (e.g., dried Cannabis is just fine). This is because curing only converts are very small percentage of the THCA to THC. So I see little difference between a 2-4″ raw bud and a dried/cured bud. Just saying. If you think my assertion is wrong please send a link. In any case it would seem that, to get a prescribed dose of 600 milligrams, you would have to be juicing about 3 grams of raw Cannabis into your daily smoothy.

Even if you are buying ounces each gram is still going to cost you about $7/gram. So lets do the math:

3 grams/day * $7 * 365 day/year = $7,665/year for a 3 gram/day dose And that adds up to 1095 grams/year: just for juicing and nothing for inhaling.

Given that a pound is 454 grams that comes to about 2.5 pounds per year.

Gee how many of us have an extra $7,665/year to juice THCA into our bodies? Probably not many. The only way you are going to be able to do this is by growing your own which can be done for a fraction of that price, though requiring a bit of labor growing, trimming and harvesting.

To put this into more perspective a “great grower” can get as much as 1 gram/watt while a novice grower would be lucky getting .5 gram/watt. So a good grower might get 2.2 pounds per 1000 Watt HPS Bloom lamp. A novice grower might get 1.1 pounds per 1000 Watt HPS Bloom lamp. [1000 grams/1000 watt lamp / 454grams/pound = 2.2]

So if you are healthy enough to “grow you own” this is quite doable. Unfortunately many medical users are not healthy enough for the rigors of maintaining a sustainable garden. But however you want to cut it “growing your own” is the only way most of us are going to be able to medically juice Cannabis to improve our health.

And this brings up a second looming problem. Beginning in 2012 state Cannabis initiatives went from Medical to “Tax/Regulate and Control” initiatives, beginning with CO and WA. These initiatives incentivize state monopolies to control the growing of Cannabis in a “seed to sale” model, so that the states can tax every gram of Cannabis grown. 5 years later the states are now beginning to come down on home growers in order to boost their profits. And the large Mega Grows have been found to be using pesticides and herbicides on the plants making them toxic, especially to medical users. I explore this further in the following essay.

Since the 60’s there had been plenty of talk about the “Tomato Model,” for Cannabis. What this bascially means is that Marijuana/Cannabis should be allowed to be grown just like tomatoes: no taxation, no regulation and no state control. Since about 2008 I began constructing my own Tomato Model which I called “MERP:” The Marijuana Relegalization Policy Project. Because that is a mouthful to say I simply called it MERP which has undergone some evolution over the years. Ironically the “Tomato Model” has worked flawlessly since it began in the late 1960’s and there is no reason it could not continue to work today.

Here is my current explanation of MERP3:

===== All adults should have the sovereign right to 4, 1000 Watt, bloom lamps in their homes. If they stay within these parameters the police should be no more harmful than a dead ghost on a bright sunny day. This will probably put all those NORML “pot Attorneys” out of business for good and we will all be a whole lot less paranoid. AND they should be able to sell their overage without any “tax, regulation or government control.” And like the original Tomato Model — beginning with home grows in the 1960’s — you will not be able to write off any expenses for electricity, nutrients, lamps, clones etc. Let’s call that the third incarnation of MERP. That would be MERP3. With MERP3 no more children will be taken from their parents, no one will any longer have their homes taken away through forfeiture laws and no one will any longer get shot at 3 AM in the morning by police goon squads. And with that we will all be a whole lot happier. It will also make it far less expensive to incorporate Cannabis as a supplement for health in order to fuel our endocannaboid system. That would include the use of non-psychotropic raw Cannabis (e.g., THCA, CBDA) as well as carboxylated THC from edibles and smoking. We continue to see that “Tax and Regulate” fails to meet these criteria. And given my decades as an activist — talking to thousands of people — I am quite confident that WE THE PEOPLE prefer a MERP3 Tomato Model over State Corporate Control. You are simply kidding yourself if you feel otherwise. =====

As I said at the beginning of this essay: the right to alter one’s consciousness is an inalienable right regardless of whether a given drug has medical application or not. But it is also clear that Cannabis has many medical benefits and adults should have every right to use it both recreationally and as a medicine. I feel exactly the same way about “Magic Mushrooms” or Psilocybin. Adults should have the right to both cultivate and consume Psilocybin.

I have been an activist too long already. If you have ever attended a “Million Marijuana March” (2000 – Present) I started these international events with “International Drug Policy Day” back in 1990. I have published both a Magazine (New Age Patriot: 1989 – 1997) and Website (New Age Citizen: 2000 – 2012). I have spoken numerous times at the Ann Arbor Hash Bash and other similar events. I have done my part.

But as I write our rights to “grow our own” are coming under increasing attack. This is being promulgated by the growing number of state governments that are implementing “Cannabis Monopolies” through the emerging “Tax/Regulate/Control” Model: which first reared its head in 2012. Since 2012 legislators have been chipping away at the earlier Medical Marijuana initiatives (starting with Prop215: CA/1996) through both zoning laws and legislation. To put it in the simplest terms: they want all the Cannabis tax revenue and they are willing to put you in jail if you continue to grow. And I fully expect this to get worse over the coming years.

And let us not forget just how insane “Tax/Regulate and Control” really is. The very state governments that have been warning us about the dangers of Cannabis — for over 70 years — are now silently moving forward to become our new drug dealers.

We should never allow the foxes to watch the chicken coup. And we should never allow our persecutors to be in control of the production and distribution of Cannabis. “Tax/Regulate and Control” must be made subservient to a “Tomato Model.” Otherwise expect the War on Cannabis Consumers and Producers to escalate.

===== =====

Links to help you understand the Endocannabiod System and the many Medical uses of Cannabis for personal health.

It went on to say that “At one Kentucky hospital, people are actually bringing in heroin and shooting up with patients.”

The following can be called my rendition of the opioid crisis in Kentucky, which would probably apply in most places, but I live here and can only truly state what I’ve seen and what my own experience has been.

I see this issue from all sides. The side of the Lawmakers who are trying to control the horrible issue at hand as well as the side of the patient who needs opioid medication and the opioid abuser as well, as I have had close family members deal with this issue not the least of which was my youngest daughter.

In 2015 I wrote about HB 1 in Kentucky and how it affected patients who were cut off from their opioid medications that they had been used to getting on a regular basis with little or no warning and the position it put them into. Some of them couldn’t pass the urine test required because of intermittent Cannabis use, some of them were cut off because of other opiates showing up in their urine tests, and a lot of them were disenfranchised by their doctors who just cut everyone off because of fear of the DEA. They PASSED their drug tests and still were turned away.

I have talked to several M.D.’s about the situation and they all told me the same thing – they are afraid to prescribe even to patients who are obviously in need of medication for fear of the DEA and losing their license to practice. IF there is any amount of opiate in your drug screen they will definitely not prescribe, period. It just doesn’t matter if it is only a little “pot”. One of them went so far as to say that they thought it was population control! I agreed with them! The degree of death from heroin, buprenorphine and other even stronger pharmaceuticals than the ones that everyone was worried about killing people to begin with has created a population culling/control. Get rid of the addicts!

Now, imagine being a middle age person with chronic debilitating disease which causes pain, who has used marijuana for a very long time in order to keep from using too much opioid medication. You go to your doctors appointment expecting to get your monthly prescription for 30 pain pills (not long-acting!), so you can sleep at night and are requested to submit random urine test – which you fail, of course, because you smoked Cannabis for pain and severe anxiety – which leaves you out in the street – IF you have to have relief. All I can say is thank God for Cannabis and the fact that it is a plant! #PLANTSRIGHTS

Now imagine being 25-30 years old, maybe older, having debilitating pain from a health issue, which Doctor’s conveniently prescribed a sh*tload of opiates of all kinds for, (i.e., the cocktails)… Don’t forget the Oxycontin which was sold to us as a non-addictive narcotic! You probably do not use much Cannabis because you know you may be randomly tested, and you NEED those drugs! BUT, you can get by with using a “spice” product, or a little meth, or a little of something else as long as it gets out of your system before you have to go to the Pain Clinic again! SOMEHOW you miscalculate and low and behold a positive urine screen comes back for “whatever” and you are kicked out in the cold with absolutely nothing after having been on all those opiates and benzo’s and whatever else they wrote the ten prescriptions for the last time you were there, AFTER they injected your spine with a poison concoction of unknown chemicals.

What are you going to do when your Doctor refuses to prescribe and you are conveniently addicted to all those medications which you can ONLY get from a Physician at a pain clinic?

DETOX on your own? You got to work to pay the bills! Rent doesn’t go away just because your Doctor did! Now you have to find something, somewhere, that will keep you going no matter what, and your gonna need to work more because the cost of “your medicine” is going to eat up your paycheck. And then a lot of the “drugs” disappear off of the street – practically all at once – because everybody lost their Doctors. Now what? Never fear, Heroin is here.

It is fucking human nature to find something to relieve pain. Especially severe pain – ESPECIALLY if your already addicted to the opiates! The Government made sure that everyone that was in “pain” was treated when they enacted the…

Yeah, people are in pain. In legitimate pain for a lot of reasons. Years of abuse from employers, eating too much fast food which was sold to us by media marketing, abuse of alcohol and sugar and caffeine and tobacco. Sedentary living in front of the TV. Lack of exercise. Bogus and unnecessary surgeries and medical mistakes and mishaps. Veterans with service related injuries and mental issues. The list goes on and on and on and EVERYONE is on this list somewhere. They got us and they got our Children! Hell, they even got our damn Dogs (tramadol)! And then they gave the tramadol back to us!

Office of Drug Control Policy Executive Director Van Ingram testified that 1,404 Kentuckians died of a drug overdose last year.

In 2015 I posted this information which was attached to a link which is now defunct. Imagine that. At the time I did not print that information out and I haven’t had the time nor inclination to re-search it out again. They effectively removed it from sight. But it did exist and I think that it summarizes quite well how much the Kentucky Government felt about it’s opioid addicted Citizens. Say what you will but I know there had to be a much better way to handle the situation!

…One could theorize that the passage of HB50 which included a provision to “provide funding for the purchase and administration of naltrexone for extended-release injectable suspension”, for Heroin overdoses was a calculated response to what they knew was going to happen when they discontinued “narcotics” at the Doctor’s office…more Heroin deaths. Per the Interim Joint Committee on Judiciary on July 27, 2015…

Minutes of the 2nd Meeting of the 2015 Interim

July 27, 2015

The mandatory use of KASPER has resulted in three things: overall decreased prescribing of controlled substances, decreased inappropriate prescribing, and decreased “doctor shopping”. All three of these were goals of the bill, and all three have been successfully achieved. House Bill 217 was passed a year later, which cleaned up some parts of House Bill 1 and married the regulations to the statutory provisions. Representative Tilley asked members to note that those who are prescribing in high quantities are being monitored. Statistics have shown that since the passage of House Bill 1, heroin use increased. There has been an increase in heroin-related deaths.

In what he described as a “rare bright spot, there were 70 million fewer dosage units of opioids prescribed last year in Kentucky than in 2011”. (That percentage doesn’t include buprenorphine, a semisynthetic opioid that is used to treat opioid addiction.) There are still about 300 million dosage units of opioids being prescribed in Kentucky.

Rep. Mary Lou Marzian, D-Louisville, asked how the state could fund the mental health, treatment and prevention programs needed.

The answer to Rep. Marzian’s question is that we won’t be funding mental health programs. There is virtually no qualified Psychiatrist’s in the rural area’s of Kentucky and most of the people that they put in different “counseling services” to make it look like there is mental health care are not qualified to handle the patients that they need to treat here.

But there are plenty of “methodone clinics”.

Kentucky doctors have new restrictions for prescribing Suboxone after efforts to curb pill mills created a new cash-for-pills market and a street trade for the drug designed to safely wean addicts from heroin.LINK

The end result of all of this is that people are and will continue to suffer in Kentucky whether they be patients or addicts, or families of those who are patients or addicts. The reasons for this can be debated over and over but it comes down to money. And, how to ignore those who do not have any money.

I, personally, am not a big fan of LEGALIZED medical marijuana, in and of itself. I am surprised that Kentucky has not adopted that stance by now because when you “legalize” it, as a prescription medicine, you will open up all avenues for the prison industrial complex yet again. It would be in their favor to “legalize” Marijuana for that reason – CONTROL. However, the majority of Kentuckians have opted for “Medical Marijuana” and they have spoken loudly…

Let me say that I DO BELIEVE that their is room for regulated Cannabis in the Pharmaceutical market – BUT NOT at the expense of everyone’s rights to be able to grow this “medicinal” plant in our own backyard just as Oregano can be. If the Government cannot do its job correctly and see that everyone is equally justified to use this plant as they see fit, then it should be immediately REPEALED from the CSA and any other Statute which may inflict harm upon a person for possessing, growing or using this plant! Remove it from the Pharmacopeia and let the people do what they will with this plant. We will learn to make our own medicine!

Another year has passed us by to no avail of Medical Cannabis in Kentucky. Gov. Matt Bevin has made it clear what his intentions are at this time even though he had made “campaign promises” to many people to see that this issue was voted on favorably. Yet we sit and wait.

What are we waiting for? The Culling to end?

If it were my decision a low dose codeine, and a low dose hydrocodone would be available at the pharmacy, with no prescription, with restrictions on how often you could purchase. Since we have all the new monitoring programs this shouldn’t be hard to accomplish.

A low dose benzodiazepine should be made available as well.

And Cannabis medicines should be commonly available just as they were before 1937.

I can promise you that you won’t see near the overdose deaths as you do now because people won’t be grabbing at heroin and methodone because they can’t get anything else.

Additionally, the Cannabis plant should be growing in everyone’s yard and it should be the first plant of choice for most everyday ailments – in addition to being a wonder drug to Cancer Patients and others with debilitating illnesses. That is the beauty of Cannabis — it can be utilized in so many different ways and help so many people.

The Government’s regulated and incorporated war on Cannabis has destroyed the Country we live in by replacing what is a totally natural substance with a host of chemical compounds for our every need…

Mass marketed to us through media and all types of industries it has made its way through our bodies and minds and also our Children’s. We have been enslaved into a system of control that goes beyond most people’s understanding. Our very lives are controlled by the food and pharmaceuticals which we purchase, and consume and have become accustomed to over time and are expected to use.

The problem is that the chemicals are killing us – and the Planet we live on, but the Cannabis can help to save the environment as well as us – if allowed to do so.

Most all of our food and useful plants have been wrapped up into the “new world order” under the United Nations and Agenda 21 which is responsible for the treaties associated with the control.

The U.S. Marijuana Party maintains websites and social networking to further the outreach of Cannabis related news and information as well as promoting for the repeal of the Controlled Substance Act with particular regard to Cannabis/Hemp, but for any other naturally growing plant as well.

The U.S. Marijuana Party also maintains a Platform which explains our views on some major issues.

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For all you Petrochemical-Pharmaceutical-Military-Industrial-Transnational-Corporate-Fascist-Elite-Bastards, I’ve got your karma right here. “If I was going to lie to you, I’d already be elected. “Ronald Reagan and George Bush aren’t conservatives. They are aliens.” “My opponents are both honorable men, and I believe they’re telling the truth on each other in those ads they’re running. If they’re lying, we can’t use ’em in Congress. If they’re telling the truth, we sure as hell can’t use ’em.” “We’re going to take the government out of your bedroom, your bloodstream, your brain, your bladder, your business, your billfold, your back pockets, your bingo halls and your Internet bulletin boards.” “Did my father’s generation hit the beaches of Normandy and Iwo Jima so that I’d have to pee in a cup to hold a job in America?”